A Poet’s perspective is a blog for me, an aspiring writer, to share my world and work with a wider audience. I intend to feature many aspects through this site. These will consist of blog posts, poetry and writing, photography, and media reviews. I hope my posts will remain engaging to you and provide a personal sense of how I see the world. I intend to add contact information soon in order to connect with readers. Thank you for viewing A Poet’s Perspective!

Conventionally, writing is thought of as a creative act. It is creating something from nothing, giving voice to an idea. While I don’t entirely discredit those notions about writing, they seem almost too simple. In my experience with writing, I have found it to be an act of courage. All my writings (poetry, stories, essays, journals) have a singular connection: they express what I can’t or won’t communicate with others. This can include certain people or events that have impacted me or very private thoughts and feelings. Writing can be an act of courage because it brings private ideas into reality when a pen is put to paper. There is something seemingly concrete about writing a statement out. It gives preservation to a though with the once fluid ability to slip through one’s mind and memory. Put simply, the action of writing declares our ideas in a more definite form. From this concept come the reasons that writing should be merited as an act of courage. For myself, the reasons are: writing allows me to face necessary truths about myself and it is a source of strength.

Writing allows me to face necessary, if sometimes unpleasant, truths about myself. This is because writing is a skill nurtured in solitude. Long before being shared or circulated, writing is a sharing of secrets kept between the pages and I. The best example of this in my writing life is my private journal. My journal is where I reflect on my life and myself as a person. There is no need for filters or social graces. There is an amazing sense of trust in solitary writing. Pages cannot talk, nor can they judge. I can openly process my feelings and motivations, even those that make me seem small. Writing allows me to face necessary truths because they are harder to deny when they stare back at me from a page. Writing gives the truth a state of permanence.

Writing is also a source of strength for me. My writing allows me to process. Writing helps me process feelings, fears, ideas, and thoughts, in my most articulate way. I’ve always thought of my poems as pieces of me. If read as a collection, they would give a mosaic-style complex image of who I am. Or at the least, how I see the world. Writing poetry is a form of exorcism. This is especially true when I write about a difficult topic or from a deep emotional state of mind. Poetry is a means of expelling heavy emotions that weigh me down. Casting those emotions from myself and onto the page gives me cathartic relief from them. If I’m able to contain emotions within a finite page, then I can understand them, communicate them, analyze them, and maybe resolve them. This is where strength comes from.

While concepts like creativity are relevant for writing, the most important lesson is in courage. Writing is an act of courage, it expresses commitment to ideas and will to own them. In writing, we confront deep personal truths and find strength in processing our own emotions. These skills require all the courage we have.

Earlier this week, while browsing Buzzfeed videos, I came across an interesting one about a woman who bought a stranger’s love letters on Ebay. They were from the 1930’s between a man and woman who were dating. He was presumed to be ill with tuberculosis during the period of the letters. The vlogger summarized the story as she interpreted it from reading the letters and became very invested in the lives of this couple. Their story ended with some unresolved questions, at least as the letters finished. The vlogger commented on how interesting it was to be seeing into the couple’s lives through the letters and how invested she was in it.

So I got an idea from the video. I decided I would look on Ebay for vintage personal letters. There are a lot available. So to narrow it down I decided to choose my favorite historical period, the World War 2 era. They are letters from veterans to their wives/families. I found a couple different sets for decent prices in the “buy it now” category. I bought two different sets, one is shipped, the other will ship tomorrow. I decided once I get them and read through them, I will create a blog post discussing the experience of reading personal letters from such a unique era, my thoughts and reactions. If they prove interesting, it could be a new hobby. I’ll update on here once I’ve received them and read through them. More to come.

Looking into cappuccino foam is viewing a galaxy, the minuscule shining bubbles are stars with infinite possibility.

As an introvert I make an effort not to be memorable.

I drink cappuccinos on days I can’t afford to sugar coat my own bitter truths. Mochas are for drinking down little lies without question.

I am an eye of the storm, when colliding with the lives of others there is an immense circulating wall of feelings, flaws, and complexities. Those with the will to break through it will find an inner calm, an inner peace with who I am, and all that I have to offer. holding the storm together.

I cry before the things
I cannot have.
Then, I may claim them
In my tears.
But as all things do,
My tears return
To the earth, after all.